The Foreign Affairs Committee decided to send the Bill on the Ratification of the Estonian-Russian State Border Treaties to the first reading at the November 25 plenary sitting, the Parliament’s press office announced.

The committee voted to send the bill to the Parliament with four members in favour and two against.

Former defence minister Sven Mikser, now an MP who chairs the committee, expressed his joy that most members supported the sending of the bill to the first reading at the plenary assembly. In his opinion, the fact that the state borders have been agreed bilaterally and that the parliament has ratified the treaties will serve the best interests of Estonia. The bill needs the support of two-thirds majority of the parliament. “I’m convinced that the parliament has that majority,” Mikser said.

Member of the Committee Henn Põlluaas (EKRE), on the other hand, said the border treaty and its ratification are unnecessary because they are detrimental to Estonia’s interests.

The border treaty between Estonia and Russia was signed in February 2014, but is yet to enter force as neither of the two parties has ratified it.

Estonia is also currently in the process of marking down and developing the border, which serves as the external border of the European Union. According to Minister of the Interior Hanno Pevkur, technical constructions should hopefully be completed by 2018, when the country celebrates its 100th anniversary.

According to Pevkur, 71 percent of the control line has been cleared and 59 percent milled. 3.2 million euros has been set aside for constructing the border from this year’s budget and another 20 million from the next year’s budget.